Vol. 16—1962 - NorthEastern Weed Science Society

does Jo run a recreational facilitythat'isih~llV11ypatrOnl:ledtheyeataround but healso
has a portableparticleboard'assernblywbioh he hss mourit~(N)n struck and whioh'he
moves fr.om one bloWdownarea totbe other. The hurtlclihe6f1971lookedlikea i ,
major disaster for Jo at the time but this new particle boa1'dinachine that uses small
red maple stems in short lengths as its raw material enabled him to convert a seemingly
hopeless situation into his biggest mOJley-tnaldngaSset oVem'ight'almost. SUitably
impressed by the resUtency of the' maa, we take our ISave and ,marvel for the remainder
of the day on the magtdtude of the changes. that have occurred in the short time' thEIt1iie
have knownIo and his forest..'
'11/1y reasons for relating this tale must surely be obvioos. I wish to empbasize
for you that risks and uncertainties ~as mu~ a' part of the natural environmentiri
forest management as the trees themSelves. lfour hlstadeal experience is anyprecedent,
we can be sure that the future Willbring majorchallgeB in price for the prod&lCts
that we have to sell and that these ptl:¢e cbanges will be affected to asignificant'degtee
by technological de:velopmentsthat create new uses for Woodtlndin so doing make suddenlyvaluable
species Whichhitherto we considered valtieless.In short, we can'
expect present uses to change and newuses to develop fOt species that we attaeh:aouse
to at present. The forests within which these species grow are just as likely to change
in ways that are not orderly or within dur control. It' islfllte within the bounds ot'
poSSibility that certain orour more valuable specieswUl sucO\lmbto some pathopn
such as has happened in the past with birch, chestnut, aDdnow perhaps white asia.
Cat'ac1ysmic events, such as fire or;Wind, may affect out grOwing stock in suddeft and
serious fashion so that we are impelled to reviSe our cutttng schedules in such a way
as t,osalvage losses or rebuild out inventory • And all,ot't'hellechanges, I would have
you',note,are eXtraneous to the forest and have nothing'cddo Withthe way the trees
grow or how the forest composition changes overtime. Their influence is great,and
their significance is the greater the more intensive the degree of management. In
other words, the more elaborate the management ,program fora given tract of forest
land, .the more disruptive is the effect Of events of tbisnatllre.
It becomes evident, then, that the forest manager ... eneompaesed about with a
plethora of variables that he can seldOm:predict or control., More often than not, he
operates from mcompl~e knowledge of the events which 'f/ill d~emnine the COllt1m.led
integrity of his' enterprise. In this tndeftnite aura of ehaz1Seand uncertainty he bas
now been preSented with a herbicidal toOlthat enables hiDlto control with greater
efficiency the composition of his forest~ All well and gOod. He knows too from the
experience of others ~·the effects of· suoh herbicidal tr.eatments are not whollypre~
dictable, that they vary with the nature of the carrier, 'Whetheroil or water, with the
season of the year in wbichapPlied, the type of vegetatiGlftbeingtreated, the sprouting
ability of the species treste4,.and ·the intensity of the treatment. To add to his misery,
he:does not know nor canhe 1~W$.th._YcJegree of cetUtnty how-much such herJld~
cidal treatments will' cost wqenappliied to bj.f;lWoodsaact1heBites that they grow on,
and there are cohflictingopinionB:a8to the lJestchemica1'1llD.'iIpply and the bestmarmer
in which to apply it -- foliage spray, basal spray or frW by axe or tree injector.
Then, too,he has long considered that there are certain sites where it would be
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